NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. government scientist working with bird flu rushed through a procedure designed to ensure safety, allotting only about half the time necessary, in order to get to a staff meeting, health officials said on Friday.

The lab worker's haste likely contributed to a potentially fatal mishap, in which samples of mild avian flu were tainted with a highly deadly strain and sent from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.